International Women's Day: when is it and why is it celebrated?

Historically, women's day started with the celebration of the National Woman's Day in the United States of America in 1909. The day is also a call to action through events large and small focusing on equality.

IWD 2018 campaign theme is PressforProgress.

Everyone in the world puts their trousers on one leg at a time, we eat, breathe and do what we can to make a life for ourselves and those around us.

Mrs Hamida Harrison, the Mobilisation Manager for Abantu for Development and Convenor for Women's Manifesto Coalition, has urged the government to accelerate efforts aimed at ensuring gender parity, particularly in the labour sector.

These include Women of the World Festival 2018 from 9th-11th March, The Marguerite International Women's Day Party on 8th March, International Women's Day Breakfast Morning on 8th March, Hip Hop Karaoke International Women's Day special on 8th March and Women in Focus Festival from 10th-11th March.

The gender disparity is starkly revealed when comparing a man and a woman at the upper-most end of the confidence scale: your chances of promotion rise from 8 per cent to 14% if you're a highly confident man, but remain at around 7 to 8 per cent if you're a highly confident woman. According to the IWD website, "It is a strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive".

It is not about an individual country, group organisation or race.

But it has also become a day to highlight the struggles, inequality and oppression women still face in modern society.

March 8 - International Women's Day are declared as a non-working day in Azerbaijan. I see growing ranks of women leaders working together to support each other, and I applaud companies who are recognizing that lifting up women helps their bottom line.

We have to remain persistent, Fr Luke says, and ensure that qualified women are considered and hired when employment opportunities open up. Of course, you'll probably talk a bit about gender equality, and the women's rights movement, but for younger kids and even preteens, stories are a much more effective way to get the message across. Just imagine what Parliament would be like with more women who are known to make wise and balanced decisions. "Standing with women against this discrimination and injustice is our humanitarian duty", it read, adding that the violence against women is a global problem that "should be tackled with a rights and justice-based understanding".

International Women's Day is about celebrating the achievements of women past, present, and future.

"Every year, approximately 13 million women in the European Union experience violence [1],".

Among these are higher rates of suicide - the biggest killer of men under 45 - and lower life expectancy among men - who live for an average of four years less than women - as well as male victims of domestic and sexual abuse.

Let's all collectively press the agenda and make a positive difference for women in our societies.

For the same work done, men earned Rs 231 as a median gross hourly salary while women earned only Rs 184.80.